Man Kills Family 3 Weeks Before His Wedding So Fiancée Doesn't Find Out He Lied About Job

Toronto man Brett Ryan has been given three life sentences and a concurrent 10-year sentence in prison for first- and second-degree murder and attempted murder after slaying three family members with a crossbow. According to Cosmopolitan, Ryan feared that the mother of his fiancée would inform his bride-to-be that he had lied to her about having both a job and a college degree (he, in fact, had neither).

Ryan had previously committed eight different bank robberies and served almost four years in prison — his fiancée was aware of his sordid past.

Ryan had held an IT job but was fired when they became aware of his criminal record. He informed his fiancée's mother who agreed to help him financially — but Ryan decided to kill her anyway, fearing she'd tell her daughter.

Ryan attempted to cover up the murder by using improvised devices that would create a "digital footprint" if he needed an alibi. The devices were never activated.

He murdered his fiancée's mother with a crossbow that he had planted in the house earlier. He encountered both his fiancée's brother and his own brother as he attempted to flee the scene and stabbed them both to death. Shortly after that, he encountered another brother of his and attempted to kill him as well, although this time the brother managed to escape and call the police. Ryan confessed to all three murders when police arrived.

“Brett Ryan was worried that if his fiancée discovered the web of lies, she’d call off the wedding... “This was a sophisticated plan to build in an alibi, although these devices were never used.”” Justice John McMahon said at the sentencing hearing.